Monthly Archives: June 2014

Recently, two major incidents took place in Greece: first of all. the blackmailing of a left politician on the basis of a video which was recorded by some students who gave it to a reporter, who in his turn used it to expose the politician’s sexual preferences; the second is concerns the Greek Pride parades and is splitted into another two issues: i) a photographer took an unsolicited picture of a trans woman. At first denied doing so, but under pressure from those nearby deleted it. Afterwards an article was written to discuss the topic and a lawyer was asked about it. ii) A few days later, Golden Dawn (the extreme right wing party of the Greek parliament) uploaded the photos from Thessaloniki Pride, which where hosted on an online magazine, to their own site with harmful intentions.

What these cases have in common is that there was no consent given to record the video or to take photos, and this material was used to attack the victims. I hope we can agree that there is something very wrong with blaming the victim. There is something totally disturbing when the actor (this time, the reporters) isn’t accused of violating the law. Continue reading →

Sexuality and gender are two of the most important aspects of a person’s identity. They are so important, in fact, that they shape how others perceive us and whether they approve and accept who we are. There are many stories, fictional or based on real circumstances, that describe the rising conflicts when expressions of identity outside of the norm become visible. Rarely though are we concerned with the opposite situation. Imagine what happens when something that you see as a fundemental aspect of yourself is invisible. Continue reading →